Chapter 119: Game Transition (1)
"And we'll finish the interview off here!"
The interview came to an end with Yu Ha-Yeon's big smile.
"Phew. Thank you."
"No, thank you. You're giving me extra for the interview on top of the 500,000 won," Almond replied with a smile.
— All this guy cares about is money
— Almond! You're the same!
— LOL
— Do a stream with Ha-Yeon!
In truth, money wasn't the reason Almond did this interview. He earned over ten million won in the first month of streaming and had yet to cash in his contracts and YouTube revenue. Money wasn't the reason for this interview.
He interviewed to maintain a good relationship with Fantasia. He only mentioned money to draw a line with Yu Ha-Yeon. He didn't want rumors of them having this interview because they were close. In this industry, there was nothing good to gain from being involved with women.
Several viewers wanted to watch him stream with her, but he backed off here for today.
"I’ll get going now."
"Ah, yes. Thank you so much," Yu Ha-Yeon bowed formally at a 90-degree angle and bid him farewell.
"..."
Fantasia's?This World?channel was now silent with only her remaining.
“Phew.?The interview was longer than expected, right?”
The silence was broken as Yu Ha-Yeon turned on Almond’s stream again.
“I'll end the stream here today. I have to go eat as well.”
— Nooooo
— What the? Only chatting today?
— He's going after the LIL announcement.
— So can we expect LIL to start tomorrow?
Almond's stream ended shortly afterward. The silence returned.
Yu Ha-Yeon thought to herself in the silence, 'So he's going to play LIL.'
She noted Almond's next steps because, for some reason, she felt like they would cross paths frequently in the future.
***
Chiiik—?
The usual sound of pressure releasing was heard as the capsule lid opened. As always, Sang-Hyeon crawled out from the machine.
"Phew."
Was it because he didn't play any games today? He was clean and dry without a speck of sweat.
"Hey, today's interview was good."
"Oh, you're awake?"
"Yeah. I didn't think you'd just go for it, but the deed was done once I woke up!"
Sang-Hyeon laughed off Ju-Hyeok's joyful scold.
"How are they reacting?"
"It's better than I thought. I thought there'd be a lot of hate, but it's actually not that bad."
"Good. God, I'm hungry."
Sang-Hyeon headed towards their fridge.
"What to eat for dinner today..."
In Ju-Hyeok's eyes, he looked so carefree. They were transitioning games tomorrow because of his sudden announcement, yet he looked free of worry. The carefree Sang-Hyeon stared into the fridge until it started beeping at him.
'Potatoes... tofu... frozen beef?'
He thought of beef soybean soup with the ingredients in the fridge. Sang-Hyeon recalled when Ju-Hyeok cooked it well.
'Should I ask him to cook it?'
Sang-Hyeon carefully glanced at Ju-Hyeok sitting at the computer. Would he cook it for him? He felt bad asking every time. Before he could even ask, Ju-Hyeok spoke to him first with his back turned.
"Hey, how did the interview even start anyways?"
"Ah, Fantasia's channel contacted me first. They donated."
Ju-Hyeok was working. Asking him to cook wasn't a good idea. Sang-Hyeon continued to look through the fridge.
'Is there anything else... something simple...'
He was looking for simple retro food, but there was only a sports drink in the fridge.
Beep. Beep.
The fridge beeped louder and louder, alerting him to close the door.
Ju-Hyeok grew impatient and shouted, "Hey! I'll cook it for you, so just close the door."
"... Huh? Really? Haha.?S-Should I?"
Sang-Hyeon scratched his head, acting oblivious.
"What ingredients are in there?"
"Potatoes, beef, and tofu. Let's eat beef and soybean stew! There are some veggies left too!"
"Oh geez," Ju-Hyeok smirked, baffled by the situation.
Sang-Hyeon acted surprised, but he already had a menu in mind.
Ju-Hyeok had a slightly annoyed look on his face, but he was inwardly pleased.
'This guy's fallen in love with my cooking.'
The guy who always ate cereal or almonds to fill himself up started growing attached to homemade food. Ju-Hyeok's plan to slowly convert Almond's tastebuds were coming into effect.
"Then, I'm going to start cooking. You go over there and take a look at the LIL champions. There's some I already chose."
"Oh, okay."
Sang-Hyeon reluctantly went to the computer. He was excited thinking about the food.
***
Sang-Hyeon sat in front of the computer and scrolled down.
'Let's take a look...'
On the screen, there was unfamiliar art.
[Sana: Light's Melody]
[Leonard: The Lion King]
[Abyss: Ruler of the Void]
[Hosea: Ruler of the Deep Sea]
These were all champions from the game, LIL. Almond scrolled through again. There were several colorful illustrations.
Scroll.
Scroll.
It was endless.
'There's so many.'
He was aware, but seeing it directly made him realize how much there was. There were over a hundred champions. There was much to learn because all one hundred champions also used different skills Sang-Hyeon decided to look at the champions that Ju-Hyeok researched for now.
'Sana...'
The highest ranked of these champions was one named Sana. The champion shot arrows made from light. She and her allies would recover their HP if she hit the random targets that appeared on enemies.
"Hmm..."
After reading the description, he realized there was much to learn about even just one champion. Sang-Hyeon decided to watch her gameplay videos. For him, watching and learning were more effective.
Of course, he chose to watch JeonJaPa's videos because that guy was the best in the industry. However...
'There are no videos in the last three years.'
All of his videos were too old. LIL was constantly updated and this resulted in frequent changes to the game. It was a completely different game from three years ago. At the pro level, the videos would be useless.
'But should I still take a look?'
The meta had changed, but Sang-Hyeon wasn't a pro. There weren't any significant updates. For an amateur like him, it wouldn’t matter too much. Sang-Hyeon wanted to watch the best of the best and see why he was a legend.
***
"..."
Sang-Hyeon couldn't keep his mouth closed. How much time had passed by?
'It’s time already?'
He smelled the delicious soybean. The food was ready, which meant quite some time had passed.
He planned to only watch one, but had already watched three videos. JeonJaPa's gameplay had the power to lure in the viewer. It wasn't showy, but clean and simple like watching an expert. His skill, which was at the peak of all players, infatuated the viewers.
JeonJaPa's explanation of Sana differed from what Sang-Hyeon read from the description. She was a healer who fought in the backlines, but was much more offensive and took the initiative.
'Is this where the difference of understanding comes from?'
It was a three year old video, but Sang-Hyeon still decided to keep it in mind. Suddenly, his ears tickled as he heard a voice.
"Almond."
‘?!’
Sang-Hyeon was surprised because it was a girl's voice.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"J-Ji-Ah? When did you come?"
It was Ji-Ah.
"You're like a human radar in Battle Large. How did you not know..."
"I can't do that in real life..."
"I see. Mr. Ju-Hyeok called me over. I was here like twenty minutes ago. Looks like you're watching JeonJaPa."
"Ah, yeah. I'm preparing for LIL."
"Oh..."
Ji-Ah's lips formed a smile.
Ju-Hyeok called for them from the kitchen, "Alright, come!"
Ji-Ah placed down her backpack and waddled to the dining table. As she sat, the four-seat table finally looked like it was filling up.
It felt good. The food was delicious as well.
Tak.
Ju-Hyeok placed down the hot stone bowl with his thick mittens.
"Woah."
It was the ideal beef and soybean stew Sang-Hyeon wanted.
"Alright, this is the special beef stew version jh2, mixed with a recipe from YouTube and my special touch."
"... What is that weird science fiction name for a stew?"
"Version 2 sounds lame."
"It doesn't..."
"Ah, whatever. Let's just call it the stew of the future. In celebration of today's negotiation."
“Pfft,” Sang-Hyeon laughed, thinking about today's meeting. The meeting was worthy of celebrating for the future.
"Hmm.?Old people talk again."
"You wouldn't know, kiddo."
"I see."
Ji-Ah looked like she didn't care and started digging in. It looked like she didn't care who said what.
Sang-Hyeon asked as he stared at her, "Anyway, how did Ji-Ah come?"
"I just called her over. Every time we eat, she's so excited to come. I thought she'd like it if we invited her again. Besides, we have a lot."
"Good. The food is good," Ji-Ah replied that she wanted to come over often while chowing down the food.
Sang-Hyeon blew on the stew to cool it down and placed a spoonful in his mouth. The savory taste of the soybean wrapped around his tongue while the fatty oils from the beef topped it off. The scent of leftover veggies complimented the umami taste.
Soybean, beef, and veggies. The three went hand in hand and perfectly harmonized with each other. Sang-Hyeon was impressed.
"Good."
"Right? It's good?"
Sang-Hyeon's eyes were fixed on Ji-Ah.
"No, I'm saying good job calling Ji-Ah over."
"What the..."
Ju-Hyeok seemed disappointed, but Sang-Hyeon didn't need to tell him how good the food was. How quickly he was eating was already proof of how delicious it was.
As the stew was cooling down, the arms of the three didn't stop moving until the stew was no more.
Ju-Hyeok started talking about how he was a better cook than Gordon Ramsey and Ji-Ah ignored him by talking about JeonJaPa. The only one listening was Sang-Hyeon.
He watched them talk and babble on about their respective topics. He felt a strange sensation of fulfillment and wanted to remember this moment.
***
The next morning.
Crunch.
Sang-Hyeon was eating almond flakes for breakfast. Ju-Hyeok had a defeated look.
'This guy... he's still...'
He hadn't given up.
'There's going to be a day where he begs for my stew in the morning.'
Bling.
When there was bad news, there was also good news.
A message came in.
[Punk Manager Oh: Fantasia contacted us. Please check the email! The descriptions are in there!]
Fantasia decided on a new price. Ju-Hyeok quickly opened the email. While he was opening it, he felt like his heart would explode.
'How much is it...'
How much did they raise it by? He quickly opened the email with his heart thumping.
[The contract is attached.
Additional negotiation is difficult, but you'll be satisfied.]
The email itself didn't say much.
"Dammit."
Ju-Hyeok was let down by the anti-climatic moment. He had to open the contract to find out the details.
[Advertisement Model Contract.pdf]
It was in a PDF format. Reading through it, the details were the same. There was only one thing that was different.
[Amount: 50,000,000 KRW]
The amount.
"... Fifty million won?"
"?"
Even Almond turned his head while eating his almond flakes.
"What is? Don't tell me..."
He felt it as well. The number he just heard...
"The new amount for the ad! The ad! Oh my god! It's fifty million!"
That was the new amount for the advertisement.
"W… W..."
Sang-Hyeon got up from his seat with his arms in the air.
"... Woooooah!"
"Kraaaaa!"
Ju-Hyeok got up alongside him and screamed.